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High Lord Wolnir is a minor antagonist and boss in Dark Souls III. The former ruler of Carthus, his attempt to harness the Abyss for himself failed and he fell victim to its corruption like many others beforehand.


Wolnir was from the kingdom of Carthus, a desert kingdom known for its swordsmen and pyromancy. Some time ago, Wolnir defeated the lords down to their knees and conquered many kingdoms known to his people. He grounded their crowns to dust to form his own crown. Thus, the crowns became one as Wolnir became the tyrannical High Lord of Carthus.

Wolnir would then find the Abyss left behind by Manus and found the pyromancies Black Serpent and Black Flame, seeking to claim the Abyss for himself. His plan backfired and found himself stuck between earth and the fog of the Abyss. In falling, he feared the darkness and pleaded to the gods for the first time. Wolnir managed to survive plunging into the Abyss from a holy sword and three armlets he stripped from the bodies of clerics, preventing him from being dragged further into the Abyss below. His gift from the gods was a skull-shaped chalice that warped anyone who touched it down to the cliff of Abyss that Wolnir was attached to. Using it, Wolnir threw many innocent victims into the Abyss just so he could their souls to outlive the Abyss slowly consuming him.

The chalice that contained the Abyss with Wolnir was placed at the end of the Catacombs of Carthus, where many of his warriors were buried. Closing off the entrance to Irithyll of the Boreal Valley behind it, Wolnir's chalice was used to trick the people who wandered in to interact with it and unintentionally grant Wolnir a sacrifice to the Abyss. The Ashen One touching the chalice reveals that enough time has passed to where Wolnir is reduced to a giant undead skeleton from the torso up. Using the Grave Warden Pyromancy Tome to lure in the player to pick it up will begin the battle.

In order to defeat Wolnir, the player must attack the armlets: two on his left arm, one on his right. When fighting Wolnir, approaching the arms if they enter the fog is not recommended as the fog quickly deplenishes vitality. Wolnir can even breath out some of the fog from his mouth. He can summon skeletons to aid him in battle, though they can be defeated by his attacks. After one of his bracelets is destroyed, he may summon his holy sword. Wolnir will climb up the hill but will fall back when a bracelet is destroyed, so the player should keep Wolnir at a certain distance from the top of the hill, which is blocked off by a wall.

Once all three bracelets are destroyed, Wolnir lets out a silent scream as he is dragged down and devoured by the Abyss. The chalice appears and sucks the fog into it. The player then wakes up back in the Catacombs with the entrance to Irithyll of the Boreal Valley open. Wolnir's Grave Warden Pyromancy Tome can be given to Karla to obtain the Black Flame and Black Flame Orb pyromancies.





  • If Wolnir is defeated without breaking all three armlets, he will simply disintegrate into ash like most Dark Souls bosses.
  • It is possible for the player to immediately run to an armlet rather than the Grave Warden Pyromancy Tome like usual to damage the armlets before the battle even begins. Using Pestilent Mist, although very damaging to the caster and costs a lot of focus points, damages Wolnir without being detected until an armlet breaks.
  • The lumps on Wolnir's back and neck are skulls, presumably those of the people he sacrificed to the Abyss.
  • Wolnir has the second-largest health pool in the game behind Yhorm the Giant.


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Dark Souls


Artorias of the Abyss
Black Dragon Kalameet | Knight Artorias | Manus

Dark Souls II
Monarchy of Drangleic
Aldia | Nashandra | Vendrick

Old Ones
Freja | Lost Sinner | Old Iron King | The Rotten


The Lost Crowns

Dark Souls III
Lords of Cinder

Church of the Deep
Archdeacon Royce | Archdeacon McDonnell | Dancer | Pontiff Sulyvahn | Vordt


Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City
